This year marked the 8th annual National Moot Court Competition, organised by Dublin City University (DCU) and sponsored by Matheson. The Competition was held on Saturday the 18th of November 2017 in the Criminal Courts of Justice Complex. Teams from all over the country competed in the year’s competition including Maynooth University (MU), Ulster University, Queens University, University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and DCU.
A Moot Court Competition simulates a court hearing (usually an appeal against a final decision) in which students analyse the fictional problem question, do research on the relevant law, prepare written submissions and deliver oral arguments on the case. The problem question for this year’s competition involved an appeal to the Court of Appeal from a High Court decision and involved employer’s liability for psychiatric illness (relating to stress in the workplace) and nervous shock.
The competition requires teams of three to prepare written submissions for the Appellant and the Respondent and deliver oral arguments for both sides in the preliminary rounds held in the Criminal Courts Complex. The four highest scoring team from the preliminary rounds progress through the semi-finals of the competition.
MU students have been active participants of this competition over the years and this year was no exception with three teams representing MU. We would like to congratulate all students involved and especially Daniel O’Dowd (LLB), Callum Wallace (LLB) and Craig Greene-Henderson (LLB) from MU who progressed to the semi-finals who were unfortunately knocked out by the eventual winners of the competition TCD. This is the second time MU have reached the semi-final stage of this competition.
In addition, two alumni and previous Moot Court Convenors for the MU Law Society were involved in judging the preliminary rounds of the competition; Siobhán Buckley BL (LLB 2014) who is currently doing a PhD with the Department and Conor Duff (LLB 2017) who is currently studying to be a Barrister at the Honorable Society of Kings Inns.
Congratulations to all involved in the competition, the winners TCD and especially to all the Maynooth Teams who did us proud!